which he has made for our recovery from sin. If any one is disposed to restrict goodness to the expression of divine kindness, made on the face of nature, and the term benevolence, to the same principle developed in the work of redemption, I shall have no objection.

The goodness, benevolence, tenderness and kindness of God, must be resolved into the simple definition, of a disposition in God to promote the greatest good of the universe. David has explain. ed this attribute of God. Psalms 145. 5-9. I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works; and men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. After the apostacy and rebellion of man, God was under no obligations, except those imposed by his goodness, to provide for his recovery. Goodness gave the Saviour; goodness made the atonement; arrested the arm of justice, and procured the sovereign display of his infinite beneficence. We then look on the goodness of God as preventing the execution of his justice, as staying the floods of desolation, which were about to be poured on the world, and as scattering blessings in rich profu. sion, through the human family. Goodness has prepared the feast of immortality for man, and spread it before him. Every law of righteousness, every offer of grace, every promise of salvation,every passage of scripture that points to the path of life, every victory over sin, and every triumph in glory proves the goodness of God.

The next moral attribute is mercy. Mercy and grace are used in the scriptures interchangeably. And each of these words is more limited and restricted in its import, than goodness. Goodness is a more general and extended expression of divine love. The mercy of God is his pity and compassion for the miserable, whether that misery be temporal or spiritual. The grace of God has a more special reference to the gratuitous gift of salvation through the Redeemer. Or, in other words, grace is a favor bestowed on the ill-deserving; such as God bestows on all whom he saves.

Mercy is, with more propriety, applied to men, than grace. But these distinctions, when applied to God, are human and arbitrary. We ought, therefore, as the Holy Ghost has done, to use them as synonimous. A merciful God looks down on man, imprisoned in his depravity, enslaved by his lusts and passions, a captive sold under sin. He sees all our natural pow. ers, as reason, judgment, understanding and conscience, veiled in the darkness of moral depravity, and he commissions the Spirit to change the heart and sanctify the soul. This is an act of grace. It is totally unmerited; and is a sovereign act of his love, in bestowing on the ill-deserving the richest benefits. This is the common meaning of the word grace, the forgiveness of sins, and acceptance in Christ. Mercy is often used in scripture, in application to the interposition of God in the deliverance of captives and sufferers. Mercy breaks the prisoner's chains, and the arms of oppressors; weakens the power of usurpation and tyranny; hears the cries of the innocent, the widow and the fatherless, and brings up the sick from the borders of the grave.— But in nothing is it so visibly displayed, as in the deliverance of

captives from the bondage of the prince of darkness, and in bringing them from the dominion and condemnation of sin, into the glorious light and liberty of the Son of God. This is mercy displayed on the basis of grace only, and is boundless and eternal.

The next moral attribute of God is justice. General justice does not essentially differ from benevolence. It is the disposition to enact equitable laws, and the equitable execution of them.Distributive justice consists in rewarding the virtuous, and in punishing the vicious according to their conduct. Distributive justice properly embraces what are sometimes called remunera. tive and punitive justice.

Remunerative justice is rewarding the virtuous exactly accor ding to their merit. Punitive justice is punishing the vicious exactly according to their demerit. Vindictive justice is the exercise of punishment in the support of law. Every law has a penalty, a punishment threatened to a violation. And law without a penalty is mere advice. It has no sanctions and no authority. Now a law founded in equity, and productive of security and hap. piness, ought to be maintained. And punishments inflicted with special reference to its honor and dignity are called vindictive. As vindictive, when applied to man, is generally associated with a revengeful and retaliating spirit, I would suggest the propriety of using the word, vindicative instead of vindictive; as the word vindicative more clearly embraces the idea of vindication, or support of right. It is obvious that God is never the subject of unkind affections. He is always influenced by the same motives, and the same spirit. Every exercise of justice is for the good of

the universe. When he punishes the sinner, and when he confines him in endless darkness, he is influenced by love to the gen. eral interests of the universe. He will not inflict a single pang which the good of the universe does not require. He is seeking the highest good in the highest display of his glory; but he is met and opposed in his work by sinners. He takes them out of the way, and casts them into hell. I do not mean by this, that the damned will be useless materials in the universe. They will be unwilling instruments of promoting the general good. And while the love of God is written on the flames of hell, it is an unchangeable truth, that the wailings of the lost will advance the divine glory, as well as the hosannas of the redeemed. If he did not exercise his justice in the punishment of the guilty, he would abandon his own glory, and the highest happiness of the intelligent universe. When he executes vengeance on his enemies, he does it with as much kind affection, as he exercises in rewarding the redeemed in heaven. His breast is filled with pity and compassion, towards the very objects whom he punishes. He has none of that complacency in them, that love of delight, which consists in the mingling of kindred and holy spirits, and which he exercises towards his saints. He punishes them with no designs of cruelty, or injustice; but treats them according to their demerit. That is, he punishes them just as much as they deserve, and no more. Now the justice of God does not differ essentially from his love. It is love to the happiness of the universe, exercised in destroying the opposers of that happiness; in removing the obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of his benevolent designs to his church. And all those expressions which represent

God as possessed of anger, indignation and wrath, are forms of speech which show the effects of his justice, and concern for the universe. The effect of wrathful passions in man, is the inflic. tion of punishment.

Now God inflicts punishment on his incorrigible creatures to an inconceivable extent, and of eternal duration. And though the effects of his justice resemble in some respects, the effects of wrathful and ambitious men and monarchs, yet there is no resemblance in the disposition of the two. There is no difficulty in reconciling disciplinary punishment with the benevolence and love of God. The parent may correct his child in the most tender and affectionate spirit, solely with reference to the reformation of the child. And no man would hesitate to justify the ways of God to men in all those afflictions and distresses, which advance their holiness and happiness. But there are punishments which are not disciplinary; punishments which are not designed, and have no tendency to reform the suffering. The infliction of death on murderers is not intended to reform them. It puts them beyond the reach of human influence, and reformation. Most of the punishments of God in this life, are disciplinary, intended to correct the hearts and lives of his creatures. I dare not say, that this is the intention of all the punishments inflicted on men, even in this life. And I know, God has no such object as their refor. mation in punishing the wicked in hell. The justice exercised in their punishment is entirely vindicative, to support the honor of his laws, the dignity of his government, and to teach the universe, that he is just, as well as merciful.

There are two reasons why God will punish the finally impeni